Demand Soars for Firms
That Fit Out Private Jets

By

Susan Carey and

J. Lynn Lunsford

Updated April 9, 2008 11:59 p.m. ET

For super-rich fliers in search of the ultimate status symbol, the big problem isn't plunking down $50 million to $250 million for a new, full-size jetliner from Boeing or Airbus. It's finding someone to turn that plane into a flying palace.

An increasing number of wealthy individuals and heads of state are buying commercial-sized planes and are spending even more to have them customized with everything from master suites to gymnasiums.

These purveyors of customized interiors, called "completion centers," are increasingly sold out for years to come as demand for transport-size personal aircraft has soared from a handful a year to dozens. That means lots more work designing and installing mother-of-pearl vanities, gilded ceilings, exotic wood cabinets, hand-made carpeting, multihead showers -- even throne rooms and gyms. Some vendors design the china, crystal and sterling silver that travel on board, and a few have installed missile defense systems on the aircraft.

"We have more work than we can handle," says Jon Buccola, chief executive officer of outfitter Greenpoint Technologies Inc. of Kirkland, Wash. Greenpoint, which specializes in interiors on new Boeing 737 business jets, has won $100 million in new business since the start of the year and is talking to a potential client who won't even get his or her new aircraft until 2014, he says.

Once a cottage industry that primarily retrofitted former airline planes, many of these completion centers now are focusing on new VIP planes, called "green aircraft" because they come out of the factories unpainted and covered in a greenish protective coat. The firms spend months -- or even years -- designing and installing the interiors at prices that rival the cost of the aircraft themselves. Demand is so strong that new players are joining the handful of established centers in the U.S. and Europe, despite a shortage of engineers who are familiar with this arcane work and the specialized craftsmen who build the furnishings, do the upholstery and construct entire galleys and lavatories by hand.

ENLARGE

A private-jet bedroom by MAV Aircraft Services, one of the companies supplying booming demand for such amenities.

MAV Aircraft Services of Fort Worth, Texas, is a relative newcomer, having been in business since 2001. But founder and owner Tohnni Jones says she has so much work her company is booked until 2011. Airbus itself reopened its own completion center in Toulouse, France, last summer to try to cope with "the tremendous shortage of outfitting capacity," a spokesman says.

More than three decades ago, Elvis Presley paid a small aviation company in Fort Worth to refurbish an old Delta Air Lines Convair 880 as a flying yacht fit for the King. Christened the Lisa Marie after his daughter, the plane was opulent for its time, outfitted with turquoise carpeting, green suede sofas, a cocktail lounge, gold-plated bathroom fixtures and a bedroom with a seat belt installed across the bed.

Today the rich are even richer. Last year, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia raised the bar by placing an order for a $300 million Airbus double-decker A380, the largest commercial airplane model in the world. The interior is expected to cost at least $200 million and will take up to two years to complete, say industry experts. But even the interior of a smaller jetliner can easily cost between $15 million and $30 million.

Competition for the whales, such as Prince Alwaleed's new A380, and the rising number of other widebody jumbo jets being ordered for private use is intense. But there are also risks. Bid a job too low -- or allow a customer to change plans too many times -- and profit can quickly evaporate. Those unfamiliar with aviation regulators' crash-survivability standards risk sinking money into furnishings and other appointments that ultimately will fail safety tests.

ENLARGE

A full-size luxury bathroom for a jet by Gore Design Completions Ltd.

Despite being nearly sold out for years to come, Boeing Co.BA0.81% and Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co., make a point of finding places on their production lines for these one-off sales. The profit margins are better and the word of mouth is priceless.

Airbus sold 31 of its narrowbody A320 family of jetliners as VIP aircraft last year, up from 20 the year before. It also landed seven orders for widebody VIP jets last year, up from one the year before. Boeing logged orders for 26 VIP jetliners valued at $3.24 billion last year, up from 23 the year before.

"The overall economy at the upper sphere is doing very well," says Jerry Gore, chief executive officer of Gore Design Completions Ltd. in San Antonio, Texas. His growing firm, which he owns with his ex-wife Kathy Gore, the president, is in talks with more than 30 prospects for assignments as far out as 2015, he says.

On a recent day, four jetliners -- two Boeing 737s, an Airbus A320 and a Boeing widebody 767 -- were parked in the massive Gore hangar, their tail markings and aircraft registration numbers shrouded under plastic to protect the identities of their owners.

The company, which has in the past retrofitted former airline planes for moguls, professional sports teams, and Google Inc. founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, now is in rarefied territory: new and larger aircraft and clients who include heads of state in Africa, Central Asia and China. Mr. and Ms. Gore say they signed three contracts in February that will bring them $68 million in revenue -- the equivalent of their total revenue last year. One client, a U.S. buyer, wants a treadmill and a steam shower installed on his Boeing business jet.

At one of Gore's main rivals, Associated Air Center in Dallas, the company keeps track of its sales with little flags stuck into a wall-size world map outside its sales office. The vast majority of those added in recent months are in the Middle East, as well as emerging markets such as China, India and Russia.

One client is Prince Alwaleed, who now travels in a customized Boeing 747-400 with two throne rooms outfitted by Associated. The company has done dozens of business jets in the past decade for customers ranging from Microsoft Corp.MSFT-0.38% co-founder Paul Allen to Miami Dolphins co-owner Wayne Huizenga. The company also has outfitted head-of-state aircraft for the governments of Mexico, Brazil and Azerbaijan.

During a recent visit to Associated's hangar, workers were swarming two identical Airbus A320 corporate jets destined for a Chinese oil company. The smell of expensive leather and fresh carpeting wafted from one that was hours away from completion.

Configured for both corporate and personal use, the plane's interior turned more luxurious toward the tail. At the rear of the plane, just past a private office was a master bedroom with a queen-size, self-leveling bed. (Jetliners like the A320s and 737s typically cruise with their noses elevated about two degrees, which could make high-end customers feel like they are falling out of the sack.)

Patricio Altuna, Associated's executive vice president for sales and marketing, says that customers put a great deal of effort into making their airplanes unique. "When you get to this level of wealth," he says, "nobody wants to wear somebody else's shoes, so to speak."

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